Senators Object to Raising Cash from Small Business for Tax Reform

by
Emily Chasan

Published August 12, 2014

A group of 46 senators this week sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, saying that small businesses shouldn’t be forced to change their accounting methods to raise revenue for broader tax reform. The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Journal reported that In an Aug. 6 letter to Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), the signatories said they were opposed to a modification that would force some small businesses to use accrual accounting, rather than cash accounting. “The arguments for tax reform are based upon simplification and fairness and this doesn’t appear to meet either of those two tests,” Rachel Dresen, a director of congressional and political affairs at the AICPA told reporter Emily Chasan. The change, which has been in draft proposals by the House and the Senate in the past year, would force businesses with more than $10 million in revenue that don’t currently have inventory, such as dentists, architects, engineers and attorneys and CPAs.